more than
tea and scones
Friday, September 09, 2005
the monologue continues...
Oh dear, it's my last night in Amsterdam...this kind of sucks. As much as I love it here, I'm ready to come home. I'm going to miss life as a backpacker though. It's going to be a difficult adjustment to life back home as a normal person. I've gotten so used to waking up, washing knickers and socks in the sink, having cereal and doing nothing until 12. I think I've forgotten how to use the washing machine!It's rainy for my last night here though so everyone at the hostel is crammed into the common room just chilling and sharing travel stories. I've spent the better part of tonight just chatting with these Aussies, they're hilarious! My god, I love the Aussies, they're all so darling and sweet. It's a fairly unevenful night for my last night.
Tomorrow my plane flies out at 7pm so I'm headed to the nearby village to pick up some last minute gifts (stroopwaffels!) and some flowers for the hostel owners (they are such sweeties!). I fly out at 7pm and arrive in Calgary for 8pm, it's going to be a long night when I return so I hope to sleep on the plane.
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Location: Lucky lake
Wearing: clean clothes! I just did laundry yesterday
Day's Activities: go into town, visit modern art museum, buy souveniers, return to the hostel, chill
Thing you miss: Canadian Ketchup! All through europe they have this spicey watery crap that they call ketchup.
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jenny at 8:14 PM
Wednesday, September 07, 2005
Jenny's Book Club!
So I have two wonderful titles that I think everyone must read. Seriously, both these books had me reduced to tears. I could not put them down. They are both very simple readers but both very touching.Burned Alive -Souad
Fantastic. Told by a woman who survived and escaped her family after being set on fire by a family member. She disgraced her family by losing her virginity at the age of 15 to a man who promised her marrige and happiness. She became pregnant and a disgrace to the village (somewhere on the Gaza strip). As a result of her actions, her family tried to kill her. It's not as grim as I make it out to be, I swear it's much more beautifully written. (non-fiction)
Tuesdays with Morrie -Mitch Albom
This is about a teacher named Morrie who was diagnosed with ALS (this disease which slowly paralyses you body starting with your arms and legs and slowly moves into your core. Once it reaches the lungs, you suffocate). Mitch was one of Morrie's students and together the two of them discussed life, death and philosophy. Really, trust me on this one. It's not as lame as I make it sound, it had me in tears and was recommended to me by this girl who also cried through it.
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Location: still amsterdam
Wearing: I spilt orange juice on my skirt today (on the plus side, today I could afford orange juice to spill on my skirt! THANKS MOM!)
Day's Activities: chill with Rembrandt at the Rijkmuseum...fantastic! I feel cultured...like yogurt
Thing you miss: Feeling clean. I shower every morning, but it really doesn't help because the clothes I put on still stink.
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jenny at 3:13 PM
Monday, September 05, 2005
Why I hate Amsterdam
This place definatly wasn't created for those of us with short attention spans...today's plans originally involved an afternoon with Rembrandt, a trip to the CatBoat (to play with stray kittens) and an evening at Vondelpark. Instead I got here and realized that my first priority is shoes because I cannot walk in mine any more and since there is glass and spit all over the streets, I cannot go barefoot like at the hostel. So before the shoe shopping I had to hit a bank...I was rejected for all divedends of cash except the lowest...so I had 20 euros for the day to spend on shoes and get me into the museum. Thankfully I'm quite thrifty so I bought some shoes for 10euros! As a reward for my thriftiness I used my visa to buy a skirt (I need a job ASAP!) . So I had 10euros left to spend and my intended museum is 9 euros.I never actually made it to my intended museum and missed my date with Rembrandt (he'll have to wait a couple days). Instead, the neon signs, loud music and flashy colors distracted me and I ended up blowing my budget on sushi and a trip to the Hemp Museum.
The Hemp Museum was informative, however the information was heavily skewed. Apparently pot usage dates back to Jesus, and his preachings on the wonders of pot can be found throughout the bible (see, slightly skewed!)! Queen Victoria was keen on the stuff as was George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. My favorite thing was the health chart that said 'smoking pot is wonderful for the lungs, really helps out those asthamtics' (...ahem...SKEWED!)
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Location: Centrum...amsterdam
Wearing: NEW SHOES (and lots of band-aids!)...and misc. clothing that doesn't match but even that wont keep away the males (one actually begged to let me let him take me for a drink, I'll never say no to free food so I let him buy me a cola then I made a dash saying I had to make it to the museum)
Day's Activities: be thrifty!
Thing you miss: I like how the subzero temperatures keep our canadian whores fully clothed...unlike these Amsterdam prostitutes....ew ew ew!
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er...I'm not sure how art-savvy the readers are but in the post I'm refering to Rembrandt the old dead artist...not some new love
jenny at 2:11 PM